Ubisoft to back away from using Starforce? Let’s all cross our fingers

If Ubisoft drops Starforce copy protection from their games it would send a …

Nobody likes Starforce. It can mess with your computer and it's a pain to remove without installing more tools. It's the anti-piracy solution that makes me want to pirate games just because the pirated versions work better. That should never be the case.

From this forum post by a Community Leader (what's with Community Leaders today?) at Ubisoft it looks as if they may be backing away from Starforce at least on some of their titles. The post is in French, but after running it through Babelfish you get this shaky translation:

To return from there good on an important subject, that of "Starforce," here information which should interest you: it was decided that protection anti-copy used on the very new Ubisoft plays would not be the Starforce software...Yes, that relates to Heroes as well!

The translation may not be pretty, but the news is. Starforce should be considered malware if you ask me, and treated accordingly. If this really does mean Ubisoft is going to stop using it on their new releases we can all do a little dance of joy.

Latest Ars Video >

War Stories | Thief: The Dark Project

1998's Thief: The Dark Project was a pioneer for the stealth genre, utilizing light and shadow as essential gameplay mechanics. The very thing that Thief became so well-known for was also the game's biggest development hurdle. Looking Glass Studios founder Paul Neurath recounts the difficulties creating Thief: The Dark Project, and how its AI systems had to be completely rewritten years into development.

War Stories | Thief: The Dark Project

War Stories | Thief: The Dark Project

1998's Thief: The Dark Project was a pioneer for the stealth genre, utilizing light and shadow as essential gameplay mechanics. The very thing that Thief became so well-known for was also the game's biggest development hurdle. Looking Glass Studios founder Paul Neurath recounts the difficulties creating Thief: The Dark Project, and how its AI systems had to be completely rewritten years into development.